Home favourite Davide Ballerini won his first Grand Tour stage as he avoided a late crash to win stage six of the Giro d’Italia.
The XDS-Astana rider successfully dodged a late pile-up which took out several of the stage favourites and held off the chasing Jasper Stuyven for victory on the cobbles in Naples.
Stuyven’s teammate Paul Magnier, who has already won two stages of this year’s race, was third. The Frenchman nearly slipped himself as he tried to dodge riders on the ground, but managed to pick up speed again despite nearly coming to a stop and led in the chasing riders.
Dylan Groenewegen and Jonathan Milan were both caught out in the pile-up, with Groenewegen’s lead-out rider Elmar Reinders one of the first to slip and crash on a tricky right-hander only 400m from the finish.
Ballerini said: “Today was not on the plan. Today our sprinter was [Matteo] Malucelli – I was trying to do the maximum for him. But when we arrived on the last corner, I saw that the first two guys had a crash.
“I just exited from the corner, and I heard on the radio 'Go! Go! Go! To the finish! There is a gap!' I just started, and I was hoping the line would come really fast. I made it. I’m really happy.”
Wednesday’s stage five was notable for its torrid conditions, with torrential downpour and cold temperatures making for a miserable day on the bike.
Luckily the showers mostly cleared in time for stage six, with the riders racing under sunshine for most of the 141km run from Paestum to Naples.
Setting off near Paestum’s Ancient Greek temples, the riders had a relatively uncomplicated parcours to traverse until the final kilometre: a nearly pan-flat stretch along the coast before rolling into Naples and swinging onto a cobbled stretch, with two late corners, for the expected bunch sprint.
An early breakaway consisting of Alpecin-PremierTech teammates Luca Vergallito and Edward Planckaert was quickly out of the blocks, soon joined by Mattia Bais of Team Polti-VisitMalta and the Bardiani CSF 7 Saber pair of Martin Marcellusi and Manuele Tarozzi.
Bais was quickest to the top of the only climb of the day, the category 4 Cava de’ Tirreni, while Planckaert was dropped and absorbed by the peloton.
The remaining four escapees persevered but were kept on a short lead by the sprinters’ teams, who controlled proceedings throughout and finally caught them with 35km to go.
The clouds that had threatened to break all day finally did as the riders sped through central Naples, with the rain making the final cobbled section especially slick and treacherous.
Multiple riders slipped on the final corner, with Groenewegen - who fell but was uninjured - and Milan the most notable to be caught out and unable to contest the sprint.
Bahrain-Victorious’ Afonso Eulalio remains in the overall race leader’s pink jersey, with no change in the general classification standings.
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